The grounds had never looked more enticing. The grass rippled in the breeze, flowers swayed majestically and the sky was clear and blue. But the grounds were practically empty. Everyone was inside, studying hard for exams, particularly the 5th and 7th years.
A solitary patch of sun shone threw the library window. Lily Evans gazed at it for a moment, and then turned back to her Transfiguration book.
‘I can’t do it! I’ll never remember this!’ A frustrated voice broke the silence. Lily looked up to see one of her best friends, Marlene McKinnon, almost in tears. Marlene, though one of the cleverest girls in Lily’s year, always went to pieces as exams drew near.
‘Come on Marlene!’ said Lily, half laughing. ‘You’re top of all your classes for Merlin’s sake! You’re going to be fine, you always are’.
Marlene was just about to retort when another voice hissed, ‘can you two please keep it down?’ Lily and Marlene looked over, surprised. The voice belonged to their other friend, Hestia Jones. Hestia wasn’t known to take any interest in studying, yet here she was, rapidly taking notes from a Charms book as if her life depended on it. Hestia looked up and saw the other two’s bemused faces. Her face split into a malicious grin.
Lily knew that look. ‘Hestia, what did you find in that Charms book?’
‘Nothing, nothing’, Hestia replied, turning her back and resuming her note taking.
Lily wasn’t fooled, and neither was Marlene. ‘Hestia, if it’s something to do with B-‘
‘Oh, it’s nothing to do with him!’ snapped Hestia.
‘Hes, you were always a bad liar. I mean it; you’ll get us in trouble!’ Marlene snapped back. Hestia ignored her, and reached into her bag, pulling out her wand.
‘Hes don’t!’ Lily cried.
‘What’s wrong with a little fun?’ asked Hestia, aiming at a table of Gryffindor boys.
Sirius looked up. He could have sworn he’d heard a slight popping noise behind him. On instinct, he glanced at Hestia Jones’s table. His ex-girlfriend had a fiery temper, and never passed by on an opportunity to curse him. She was still a little touchy about their breaking up. But there she was, copying notes from a Charms book. Sirius watched her long black shimmer in the sunlight, then went back to his work. If he hadn’t been so preoccupied with thoughts of Hestia, he might have noticed people glancing at him and sniggering.
James looked up from his potions book. Something wasn’t right about the library. People were sniggering softly. That wasn’t out of place though; normally he and the other Marauders would lay some prank to lighten up study time. What was out of place was that this time they hadn’t done anything. He glanced up at Sirius, hoping his friend would shed some light on the subject…..and immediately clamped his hand over his mouth to stop himself laughing. Sirius’s hair, his prized curly black locks, was gone. In their place was a bare skull. He glanced at Hestia’s table. She was silently shaking with laughter. James pointed at Sirius’s head and then at Hestia. She nodded. Sirius still hadn’t noticed anything, and James wanted to keep it that way. It made things so much funnier.
Lily was reprimanding Hestia under her breath.’ How could you do it Hes! We could have been caught and you could have been in so much trouble’
‘Oh, be quiet Lily’ Hestia hissed back.’ Everyone else thinks it’s hilarious, have a laugh’.
Even Marlene was chuckling softly to herself, but Lily responsible streak was kicking in.
‘It was irresponsible and in the middle of the library!’ snapped Lily, but she had to admit, she wanted to see Sirius’s face when he released his precious hair was gone.
Hestias’s sharp eyes caught her tiny smile. ‘I told you, it’s funny and you know it.’ Marlene was practically crying with silent laughter now, and the rest of the library was in silent hysterics. Sirius, stupid dolt, still hadn’t noticed anything.
Lily decided it was too noisy in the library, and decided to move back to the common room. ‘I suppose’, she said, finally relenting,’ he does look rather good bald.’
A/N: So, what did you think? Please reveiw.
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